I Have To Say LV Is My Favourite Character Of the Series.
He Is A Simply Brilliant Character. Bravo JK.
He's the Epitomy Of Evil. Harrys Opposite.

I Absolutely Revelled In Learning Of His Past In HBP And Wish We Learnt More In DH...
Seeing Tom As A Young Boy Greatly Intrigued Me And I Would Love To Learn More About His Rise To Evil... However I Was Greatly Saddened By The Lack Of New Information On LV In DH.

In My Three Favourite books COS, HBP & DH We Learn The Most About LV And To No Suprise POA Is My Least Favourite As It Bears No Appearrance Of the Dark Lord.

On Hearing That The Series Was Set To Make The Big Screen I Became Very Excited About How LV Would Look. Although i Was Greatly Disappointed In His Computer Generated Face On Ian Hart's[Professer Quirrell] Head In PS, I Was Delighted With His Full Bodied Appearrance. He Looked Far Better Than I Imagined And Ralph Fiennes Played Him To Perfection!

Indeed I Find His Character Very Interesting And As A Result I Put To You The Question: Lord Voldemort, The Greatest Villian In Literature?

Hmm while I do not disagree with the amazing complexity of the Dark Lord, and that I, too, think of him as a great Villain, there are certain things I would have liked to see in him that were lacking.

I have a liking for good people gone bad. I think those villains are the most interesting. For instance, Gellert Grindelwald was not always bad, but turned bad and has a most complex rising, regime, and fall.

Voldemort, on the other hand, was born evil. Bereft of a mother, and instilled with a genetic disposition for anger (trait of the Gaunt family inbreeding), Lord Voldemort never was good and has always been bad. I would have much rathered Voldemort turned to the extent of his evil he did, rather than rising higher from the evil he started out as.

Would it not be interesting to learn that Voldemort had the nature of Evil (his natural nature) by some outside force? I think so.

But, even though this was not the case, I still find him to be fascinating and I am sorry to see his end. I also like the imprisonment of Evil far more than its destruction. I would have liked to see Voldemort be imprisoned in something like the Veil.. a dark void where is he is not alive, but also not the freedom of death.

Lord Voldemort, The Greatest Villian In Literature? Yes I would have to agree. When the HP Books are made classics (which I am sure they wil) the world will also agree.

The fact that he was just a normal human like the rest of us, and went bad, shows that it can happen to each and every one of us. LV has such a power and mystic that surrounds him, it keeps you intruged and wanting to know more. The fact that he affraid of death is the opposite to how he works - he kills just for the sake of it in most cases. This makes him have a deep and fearful impact on the reader.

~ Potters Phoenix ~

EDIT: Please keep in mind that I have not read all the books in the world that contain villians, so this is just my opinion based on others I have read (which is not as many as you may have!!!).

That's what I was trying to say in my post. He was not a normal human who had gone bad. He was doomed to be Evil from Birth. I believe the combination of being concieved via Enchantment (love potion), descended from an inbred family, and bereft of a mother who chose death rather than her son caused Voldemort to be evil. This nature of Evil was led along by his own free will and as we all have pointed out, he was never a good person.

I liked Voldemort as a character but I think it's a little strong to say he's the greatest villain ever. I think if you are looking to applying that tag then Delores Umbridge has got to be up there - she is completely evil!

I liked him to, Aura of greatness. Power hungry but he was amazing, Id be him but the good. So id be DD actually. Or something close to that.

I agree that LV is a great evil character but the best...I don't know?
Not taking anything away from JKR because i think she is one of the best writers out there. And i think that LV character was done i a beautiful way but, I think the best villian would be one that you fall in love with at first and then throughtout the story things change and you loose that love and then begin to hate them.

I agree with Twender, and that man is in my opinion another Dark Lord, Darth Vader.

Not to take off the amazingness of Lord Voldemort's character, but he simply doesn't strike me as an amazingly evil character. He does not revel on his evil, all the opposite, he acts from the shadows creating terror and angst. He is more of a terrorist that a villian, in my opinion.

Nevertheless, he is an amazing character.

He's a great villain, but I can't say he's the greatest. People who come to mind for me are Captain Ishmael in Moby ****, Satan in Paradise Lost, Iago in Othello, Gollum in the Lord of the Rings series and Ishmael/Moridin in the Wheel of Time Series.

edit: Oh well in Moby **** got edited. lol. I'm sure you all know what book I'm talking about.

Greatest villian in history? I think not!

Think Iago from Shakespear's "Othello" (Cheers Raydurz - we think alike) , Claudius from Shakespear's "Hamlet", Mephistophilis and Lucifer from Goethe and Marlow's (Though I prefer Goethe's) "Faust"/"Doctor Faustus" respectively, even Napoleon from George Orwell's "Animal Farm"...well, you get the picture.

No doubt Voldemort was an intriguing and well-rounded character, but he is still a children's villian. He will stand the test of time in our generation, however, Harry will for generations to come. This is a sign you read Harry Potter waaaay too much. Time to try something new I'd say...

-thesolitaryone-

I'll Have You Know I Enjoy A Very Well Balanced Array Of Literature And Share Your Opinion On Iago, He's Another Favourite Villian Of Mine.

Perhaps The Title Of This Topic Is MisLeading... Is There Any Way To Change It?
I Would Like To Change To: Lord Voldemort, The Greatest Villian Of Childrens Literature?

Umm no.. Harry Potter can be read on different levels and I don't find it fair to call it Children's Literature. If someone thinks that Lord Voldemort is a greater villain that of Iago then that is their opinion. I personally think he is one of the greatest in Literature.. all of literature. Of course he is not going to compare to someone like Satan in Paradise Lost.. its Satan for crying out loud!

How someone can say that Darth Vader is a greater villain than Lord Voldemort, I do not know... and I also disagree with you that Iago is a greater villain that Lord Voldemort. The depth of evil and malice, the steps he takes down the Dark Path are extreme...

If Shawspeare is going to recommend it is changed to "Children's Literature" then I am going to recommend it be kept as is.

Hmm Very Well Put Albus. I Realise My Ignorance. I Do Not buy My HP In Adult Edition For Nothing! And The Deathly Hallows Was A Far Cry From A Childrens Novel. No I Stick With My First Statement, In My Opinion Lord Voldemort Is The Greatest Villian I Have Had The Pleasure Of Reading About!

Thank You Albus.

ah, it's good to know that i am not the only one who was intrigued by this character. i think LV is very complex. let's start at the beginning:

in HBP, Mrs. Cole from the orphanage said that as a baby, Tom never cried. this is a very important characteristic, because it's the first sign that proves his introverted personality (i hope i said it right). i perfectly understand your ideea, Albus, but i must say that were external factors that made Voldemort into the evil entity he tries to represent. if things were different, perhaps at least the part about his mother prefering death to her child, he would not have become evil. tragedy struck him at a very young age, through birth itself. but it IS STILL the kind of tragedy that creates both heroes and villains, regardless of it's chronological aspect. what makes him truly "evil" is not necessarely his dark path, but his inability to feel the slightest remorse. this also makes him a character of FICTION, the perfect antagonist, but it also makes him seem less human, because if we were to talk about a "real person", no one is that constant. even terrorists attack for a certain cause they feel is the right one. through this stiffness he gained the role of "perfect antagonist", but lost his humanity and part of his credibility.

I consider the Dark Lord to be one of most profoundly frightening villians of literature intended to be read by children. An example, his murder of Charity Burbage. Brutal.

However, to be considered the greatest villian of literature is a tall order. He needs to compete with the likes of:

Sauron the Great - Tolkiens Dark Lord who wrecked savage murder for thousands of years (as fans of the silmarillion know).

Cutty Sark and 'friends'- from Robert Burns 'Tam O'Shanter'.

MacBeth - Shakespear's noble thane who fell into evil.

For me however, the Chief Death Eater deserves particular recognition because his brand of evil was presented as an option. Characters chose to side with him. His ability to corrupt people into evil was particularly disturbing.

While I think that the Dark Lord is one of the greatest villains ever to be found in literature, I don't know if he is the greatest. Randall Flagg from The Stand and the Dark Tower is definitely in the top 5. As he is indicative of the Anti-Christ, I don't think one could get much worse.

Elkanah Bent wins the category for most sadistic and psychotic villain in literature. He carries a grudge against the Hazards and Main families for thirty years and proceeds to kill, maim, torture his victims in the most horrible means imaginable. And it doesn't help that he cut off Constance Hazard's ear and carried it as a trophy after he cut her to pieces and wrote threatening messages on the wall of the Belvedere Estate in her blood.

Count Dracula and Kurt Barlow, the vampires, attempted to gain unnatural sway over the people in their regions thru their foul baptism of blood. Dracula's attempt to destroy the integrity of Mina Harker and Lucy Westrena revolt all who are of moral fibre.

Voldemort is undoubtedly an evil character. His plots and strategisms are based on his power hungry nature and his thoughts on racial purity. Bellatrix Lestrange and Greyback are up there with him as evil and revolting fanatical pyschos.

However, despite the sinister nature of Randall Flagg and Voldemort, the fanatical and loathesome ambitions of Bella and Greyback, the blood lust of Dracula and Barlow, and the repulsive plots of Elkanah Bent, I would have to say that the all time worst villain is Umbridge. Umbridge, as a member of the government was supposed to be working for the good of society. Her willingness to destroy all facets of good to advance herself, her meddling in Dark Magic, her policies of blood purity, and her sadistic punishments which she seemed to thoroughly enjoy make her without a doubt the most evil villain of any thing that I have read.

Se gap lai nhe.

I have a hard time placing LV in such august company, simply because he makes too many mistakes (he admits as much in the beginning of the book). I attribute this to splitting his souls eight ways instead of seven, thus missing out on the magic number.

That said, he is very compelling as a character study. His mistakes are revelatory and his actions are understandable based on his history. But his flaws ultimately prevent him from being discussed among the greatest, in my opinion.

If LV is born pure evil as someone has suggested, then he is that, and has had no choice. From that point of view I think he is frightening and all that but this suggestion is a false premise. Evil is a choice, just as everything else we have in life. Lots of characters choose one way or another every day, we choose one way or another every day,and these small and big choices make up our character. I think LV is not the greatest villian. I agree that Umbridge takes the cake for the Harry Potter books, possilby tieing with Uncle Vernon, who saw his wife was not happy with bringing up Harry and chose to go her way and bully and neglect a baby/child. Obviously they knew the difference from how they treated Dudley, although that was another kind of abuse!( Maybe they really didn't have a clue!) When you know that you are turning away from what you know is the best way, to choose a way you know is harmful, then that is the path to evil. Despite Tom Riddle's very tragic childhood circumstances he made choices, same as Harry made choices. Snape is the best example of what I am trying to get at - he made good and bad choices and was aware of them - this awareness is what formed his tormented-but-wanting-to-do-right character. Making mistakes is human. Voldemort wanted to percieved as more than human, but his mistakes define him as human. As far as greatest villians in literature, I would also have to put on my list:

* IT in a Wrinkle in Time
* the Vogons in Hitchikers Guide, (just joking)
* Uriah Heep from David Copperfield, and Mr. Murdstone
* Mr. Wickham in Pride and Prejudice
* the Shift the ape in The Last Battle
* Lord Denethor from LOTR who is possibly the worst parent in literature
* The Borg
* William Hamleigh in Pillars of the Earth
* the family in The Shipping News that were the ancestors of the main character; they would move lighthouse signals to create shipwrecks so they could salvage afterwards. Sickening.

Maybe we can talk about evil and insanity- the necessary link to shutting off one's conscience! I used to mind the batman villians all generally having to be mad, but I think those writers are onto something ...

ok i ment wanted to win but i did not know if that was against spoiler policy.


so, who wanted voldemort to win?

At the end of the book it said that Voldemort's body was moved into a separate chamber but then what happened to it? Was it buried? Cremated? I even posted this question to JK Rowling in the web-chat yesterday but she never answered it.

Voldie was probably cremated, although it would have been far more amusing if he were sent to a taxidermy shop and stuffed. Then the Dark Lord could go on display around the country as the "Moste Dastardly and Sinister Villain/Publick Enemy Ever to Exist." Sort of what MacDuff threatened to do to MacBeth. Put him on display. It would have been a fitting end for a fantastically evil character. But I don't suppose we can have everything we want in life. Se gap lai nhe.

Put it on display on Weasley Wizard Wheezes and label it "U-NO-POO" and everyone can kick him if walk past in Diagon Alley.

But i think his body is probably thrown away somewhere and certainly won't get a funeral, maybe left it rot in Chamber of Secrets?

Lord Voldemort is an excellent literary villian, but certainly not the best.



Even though I really don't read many books other than Harry Potter and I don't know many literary villians, I do have to agree with you on this note. This Elkanah Bent passes Voldemort. LV killed people more than he did torture them. That was more for the Deatheaters than LV himself.



I wouldn't say that Lord Denethor was a villian in LOTR, but I can agreewith you that he is one of the worst parent in literature. At least in my short literary educational opinion



hahaha
I can see him being stuffed and, like trtrzgunners said, put on display at Weasley Wizard Weezes

lord voldermort commands fear in the magical community, but he was not the only feared dark wizard of all time, he maybe the most feared in his time. he maybe the greatest villain in the world of harry potter but certainly not in the entire literature.

The greatest villain in literature is a broad and impossible determination to make. A villainous creation must be judged not only by their actions in the fiction in question but by their staying power and influence on culture. Although I believe that the Harry Potter novels have earned their place alongside the works of countless authors as classics which will persist for generations, characters like Voldemort are not venerable enough to be judged against classic villains. Consider Beowulf's Grendel, Lord of the Flies' savage children, Fahrenheit 451's Beatty, and Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Dr. Moriarty. These characters have stood the test of time and remain important figures in classic literature. Heck, even the Joker (probably my favorite comic book villain) has carved out a mythic place in popular culture.

well i would have to agree that he is the greatest villian in literature i can not think of anyone that compares to him

This is an amazing topic to discuss!
Ok, i'll try to be as clear as possible since i have all these things popping inside my head and i can't put them in an order!

I have been reading Harry Potter for 8 years or so, since 1998 i think. Voldemort has always been for me a very distant figure, an evil you can't approach but you know it is there and may put your life in threat. It is like devil in Christianity i guess; it is distant, we can't see it but still, we are afraid of it. It is the ultimate expression of evil. This feeling however, started fading away as we approached book 4, 5 and so on. From book 5 and on, not only Voldemort had a human body, but he also made his appearance among his followers daily, and not every now and then. He had plans and his beloved Death Eaters had to make them come to life.
So, after book 5, Voldemort was no different from every other villian. He wanted power, more power, the eternal power to rule not only the world of the living ones but also the world of the dead. Especially on book 7, i even felt pity for Voldemort. Everyone would betray him in the end for the smallest reason possible-Snape did it, Narcissa did it...-. But he deserved it, didn't he? To me, he is no different than strict modern or not, leaders.
Giving him the title of the greatest villian in litterature is out of question for me. He is not the greatest villian. He is just a weak hurt kid who can't find love and craves for hate instead. Nothing more than that. Being a magician just gives him the chance to kill faster. Plus- no stains to clean afterwards.

I can't think of other villians now, but i know i will find among my books the greatest one!

I agree that Lord Voldemort is a very very good character and a great villian, however look at this detailed analysis of his character

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To echo a previous poster, Shakespeare's Iago is widely considered to be the greatest villian in literature. That doesn't mean that we can't debate the issue. I think that Voldemort is essentially evil personified, and we can't well call "evil" the greatest villian in literature. I think that he lacks a certain flair, or charisma if you will, to be the greatest. He is what he is, we know what to expect from him and know what his motives are and where is loyalties lie. He's too one-dimensional to be the greatest villan. Totally scary and creepy, I'll give him that.

I`m sorry if I don`t respect LV that much...I think he was really stupid. I mean how many wizards go around splitting their soul without even knowing it happend? Why didn`t he create a better protection for his Horcruxes? And he asked a Hogwarts`s teacher about them. C`mon it was only a matter of time before anyone else would have found out!! It`s clear he was no braniac. And it wasn`t necesary to kill Snape. Dumbledore didn`t kill anyone to get the damn wand does he even stop to think? I think that`s his worst mistake. I don`t think he needed to love, it would have been enough to just think. And he was thoughtles until the very end. Why didn`t he try another curse instead of avada kadavra? He knew that the wand refused to kill his master once. HE WAS SOO STUPID! Avada Kadavra this, Avada Kadavra that...oh GROW UP!
In HP5 he went to the MoM after all.Then why couldn`t he get the profecy himself since it was about him?...I can find flwas everywhere.He was right when he said that Potter`s succes is due to his mistakes. If he would have been a bit smarter maby he would have deserved the title of the greatest villian in literature

I can`t deny he was evil...a dangerouse, crazy man! yes...evil, but nothing more

AHAH well said madie! He was careless when it came to the horcruxes but at the same time he was the best villian in literature for me! As powerful as he may have been he was so blinded by that power that he didn't think about protecting his horcruxes. He did a pretty good job with the locket but with everything else it was just under everyones nose.

Voldemort in many ways reminded me of Hitler. They both had strong beliefs against a group of people who they didnt even bother to get to know or understand. Correct me if I'm wrong but I was told Hitlers dad was a jew and he beat him a lot. Voldemorts dad was a muggle and he deserted his mother whilst she was pregnant. So they took out their hatred on a whole group of people because of one particular bad experience. It shows how powerful stereotyping is and what effect it can have on people. Both Hitler and Voldemort were killed by their greed and hunger for power. It just goes to show power isnt all its cracked up to be.

I'm not going to pretend to be well-versed in complex literature, but I have to disagree with the phrase, 'Lord Voldemort is the Greatest Villian in Literature.' My view, however, is merely personal.

Note: when I use 'great', I don't mean the positive use of the word...

Anyway:

I have always believed the greatest and most...evil...villians appear very human. Not human in the sense they make mistakes, but human in the sense that they are plagued with many emotions, most too obscure or just uninteresting to name. From the view the series is written, Harry's (and how I wish it was less one-sided!), Voldemort appears evil. Just completely evil. Ambitious, yes, fallible, yes...but solidly evil. This is a little hard for me to explain, so I'll give it a shot:

Voldemort is presented as being so solidly and carelessly evil that he loses almost all human and emotional connection with anything. Once he has been so de-humanised, he also loses the ability to be really great. Instead of a terrifying and psychologically twisted man, we are given a robot with two settings: Evil/On and Dead/Off. Think back to Voldemort in the movies: notice how his eyes are not red, but...human. Just your average blue (I'm sure, but I could be mistaken about the exact colour...anyway). The reason why they didn't give him read eyes was that they wanted Voldemort to appear more human. The audience would be able to look at him and think, 'He's completely evil...but he's human, or once was.'

The thought of a human--someone who was once a normal human being--being able to exhibit such villianous tendencies is, in my opinion, much more evil and great. Isn't that why the most infamous villains of human history are just that? People who, on the outside, seem human and normal, but on the inside possess that insanity? People have compared Voldemort with Hitler, and in many respects they are very similar.

But Hitler loved to watch soppy, romantic comedies in his spare time. He was quite a friendly man in person, who really did enjoy his family. He laughed with actual, malice-free joy, and was known to be quite jovial at times. He had his passions, and he had his fears. And this is why he is so interesting. People have been psycho-analysing this guy for so long because he is one of the greatest and most dispicable monsters in human history, commiting so many horrendous and heart-wrenching atrocities...and yet he liked the odd chick-flick on his days off.

Voldemort has none of that. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? (This is a long post, so I'll get to the point). With the loss of his human characteristics, he also loses that psychologically scary trait. In the end, he is just some deformed moving robot, unrecognisable. And not really...great.

I hope you're not too confused (because I am! ). But hopefully you know what I'm trying to hint at.

After reading the whole Harry Potter series multiple times,
all that I can say about Voldemort being the greatest villian in literature is
RIGHT ON!
-Just Another Muggle-

I totally agree. When I think of 'great' villians in literature, I think of :-

Uriah Heep from David Copperfield
Iago from Othello
Cassius from Julius Ceassr
Scrooge in A Christmas Carol

and staying with Dickens

Fagin from Oliver Twist.

These people were all villians. Unlikable people, who made themselves unpopular by the way they treated others and lived their lives.

Voldemort wasn't what I would call your archetypal villian. The ultimate villain to me is Satan, the embodiment of evil, and I suppose one could argue that Voldemort does the same job in the HP verse. But interesatingly a passage on Villians on Wiki states the following under the sub heading Dark Lord



Are they great villians or just plain nasty? I guess to give Voldemort the title of Villian, then Harry would be the hero (I loathe to say that he is the hero, as sometimes Harry's actions have been far from heroic). I wouldn't go so far as to call him a great villian, but he's probably my favourite literary villian.

The trouble with literary villians though, is that they are nearly always based on someone from real life. Ask anyone in the UK who the most 'infamous' villains are and I bet most of them would say the Kray Twins. Notorious gangsters from the 50's, the Krays we feared so much that people didn't speak their name. This is where Rowling got the idea for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.



I think that just about says it all.

For me LV is something like the evil emperor of star wars, no regrtment, totaly powerful, and without any ahame, too much fiction in there to be the gratest vilian in literature ever, for me as you have said a more human evil character would be even more frightener, I don't know but someting like Agamenon in the Iliada, or like the evil nuns in "In the name of god" movie, that was scaring. Had any one read American Psyco, the novel not the move which is for me terrible, but the novel that is a really psyco, and he could be taken by a sucsesful man and pretty snob.

On other hand he doidn't prettend to create a villian in a novel but if you read My fight by Hittler, is just to horrible to take in at one time.

I thought this through and i can't think of another villain.
Well, this might be too etched but i could name as a great villain Claudius (sp?) from Hamlet. He killed his brother in order to become king, he got married to his brother's wife, he planned on killing Hamlet and he ended up poisoning his wife, Laertis (sp?) and himself, along with Hamlet. He was mean, pure evil and sneaky. He committed two of the most horrible crimes and would do anything to stay in power. So, i believe he could make a great villain, greater than Voldemort. Voldemort seemed silly at times and especially on book 7 he had lost his "glory". I can't think of any other villain, though i agree with those who refer to Iago. He was evil as well...

I personally think LV is a great villain (not in the sense of BEING good ). He was bitter, twisted, sick, malevolent, evil (understatement of the century there), even from childhood he was horrid. He was, in my eyes, definatly a brilliant villain. The greatest villain in literature, however, is a grand title...
LV is the stereotypical villain, and really a lot of books have ones just like him. We only consider him the 'greatest villain in literature' because Harry Potter is such a materpiece of a series (my applause to JK ). But you compare him to the everyday villain, what makes him so different bar the high profile?
Another great villian i can think of is Sauron (sp?) from LoTRs - but i'm in a very Lord of The Ring's mood right now. I can't think of any others

Voldemort was one of the most intresting bad people i like to read about. aEach book when you learnt more about him, i wanted to know even more. He has such an evil presence about him. He was consumed by the need to control and eradicate all thosse of not "pure" blood. He is prehaps in my opinon one of the top villans going. Like amortentia_lover said prehpas Sauron form LOTR'S is a match for him. But i know more about Voldemort so i think he's more intresting and engaging.

I don't think LV is the greatest villain in literature, but I think he is high up on the list! LV is a very great villain, but I think there is another villain out there somewhere that is probably greater than him.

Unlike you, LV is not my favorite character of the series. I actually thought HBP and POA were the two worst books in the series, HBP because it was boring, and POA because it was too dark. This may seem weird, but I actually hated learning about Voldemort's past, like I strangely hated the Prince's Tale in DH.

I really didn't care for the Voldemort character himself, but more for the Death Eaters that surrounded him.

I enjoyed learning of Voldy's past, it was really interesting, you saw how he ended up so ... evil. Though i think he was bad from the start and he just gradually got worse and more evil, (if that makes sense i'll be very surprised).

The death eaters are villains, but that brings up a point. LV is a villain because he chooses to kill and conquer, he's on a power march and it's all his choice, he's dragging people down with him as he tried to 'take over the world' (as all villains do). He's different from the deaths eaters because he's in control, whereas they are merely servants.

I haven't read about all literary villains but I have to agree. The Dark Lord is simply the best. The greatest. Ever. (Harry Potter is the world's greatest nice guy, I love them all)



... I just realised my posts makes me sound crazy... oh well

To be honest, I don't think Voldemort is the greatest villian in literature. So far, the best villian I have come across is Iago from Shakespeare's Othello. Shakespeare is good at creating villians.

Lord Voldermort- great villain in literature- no, He is a great villian and is very evil but I don't feel like a feel sorry for him or seriously feel scared and actually hate him because what of he does. He is not complex by any means, anyone could make up Voldermort, a weird name beginning with W, v, Y, OR x and a black cloak and give him the name, the Dark Lord as nearly every fantasy that includes magic calls the villian and boom- your there. He's nothing special. I think Bellatrix Lestrange or Lucius Malfoy are better villians, Bellatrix especcially. She has real complex tones and and also Helen Bonham Carter raised the bar for her bizarre evilness. There are better villians like Mrs Coulter in the Dark Materials, she has changes throughout the series and she is beautiful and she's a woman and she's the mother of a the heroin. But I love the important concept off exlporing his childhood and past, but I think j k rowling could have wrote it better, somehow it felt rushed.

I think LV was an excaptional villion however i much prefered the death eaters. I wish
we could have seen a bit more of their history maybe at Hogwarts. Particurally Lucious Malfoy he seemed to be cunning, clever and powerful but is depicted as week in the final book. I would have rather seen him fighting to the death along side Bellatrix and LV.

like Albus Dumbledore said, its more interesting to see a good guy gone bad like Batmans The Joker than some1 who is just evil. Darth Vader, Joker and Voldemort are my favorite villains of all time. my favorite ever perhaps Joker who had a twisted past and eventually became fully evil, and next voldermort, whom represents EVERYTHING negative, greed, purity, perfection, killing, and fear for death.
Other than that i love him but not to the extent that he should have lived or died, but have lived in the veil or something, be undead since he was most miserable when he was a spirit.

I'll admit that the Dark Lord is a character that has a lot to him, and is incredibly evil. However, I do not believe him to be the Greatest Villian in Literature. That special distinction goes to the one and only Findo Gask of The Genesis of Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks. I don't mean to bring up other people's work on a Harry Potter forum, but I needed to say it.

Im not sure if id say he is the best but i will say hes in the top 3. I put him up there with Galbatorix from Eragon, Rhita Grawr from thelost years of merlin and the great tree of avalon. Im not sure which one is the best. They're all awesome villians.